Our Last Days
by ANBUlievable
Summary: An AmourShipping fanfic story. Ash and Serena finally discover their true feelings about each other, but just as things start looking up they start to take a turn for the worst and yet the two try to make the best of their time together. How far would you go to prove your love for someone? In this story, they are 16yr olds by the way. NEXT CHAPTER: UNKNOWN.
1. Chapter 1: Discovering feelings

_Italics_ = thoughts  
 **Bold =** emphasis or sarcastic tone  
*** = bigger time skip

INTRO

Way out in the Pokemon world there is a region named Kalos. Kalos is a beautiful and various land full of many unique people's and Pokemon. But we'll be focusing on two specific people. Their names are "Ash" and "Serena". You see, Ash and Serena are traveling companions. And recently their other two traveling companions named "Clemont" and "Bonnie" have left the group to stay in Lumiose City. Now it's just the two of them. The interesting thing about them is that they've never been able to have so much time alone and that is about to lead to something much bigger.

—

Ash and Serena are now traveling together through the region. Ash is supposed to leave Kalos in a little over a week. At this point they are still in Lumiose City where they said their goodbyes with Clemont and Bonnie. Currently they're walking the streets.

Ash's stomach starts rumbling. "Hey Serena, I'm starved. Whatcha say we go get something to eat?"

Serena gets excited at the thought. " _I've never ate alone with Ash before_. _It'd be like a date_!" She answers "I'd love too."

Ash says "Okay, great. Let's try out that place over there." gesturing to a restaurant up ahead.

Serena agrees "Okay." as she nods her head and follows in behind Ash to the restaurant.

It's a big building, appearing very tall and wide from the outside. They walk up to the front door and are already being greeted. As they walk inside they can see it looks to be a pretty nice place.

After getting seated together at a table near a window Ash asks Serena "Is this place nice enough for you?"

Serena answers "Of course, It's even better than I need." But she regrets saying that. " _Oh no, now he'll think that I think it's all too much!"_ She quickly tries to cover it with "But more is better I guess." She regrets those words as well. " _Stupid stupid stupid. What am I saying_ ' ** _I guess_** _._ _'_ ' _I hope he doesn't take it the wrong way."_

Ash is thinking about it as well. " _Aww man. I screwed up big. She doesn't even like it here. Come on Ash, You gotta pick better restaurants. Finally, Clemont and Bonnie are gone. Now's the time to show you can be the type of guy that deserves a girl like her. *sigh* What am I doing? She may not even like me."_ Trying to fix things he suggests _"_ How about **you** pick somewhere next time."

Serena saw the look on Ash's face. It was full of disappointment. She feels as though she ruined their their first date." _Oh no, I knew it. I ruined everything."_ She starts to try and recover the situation with a smile and saying "Ash, this place is great." Thinking to herself " _Maybe that's all I needed to say."_

Ash is starting to feel a bit better noticing that she tried to fix the conversation. But still..." _She's just trying to be nice. She always is. That's one of my favorite parts about her though." "_ Well I'm glad you think so." He gives her a big grin.

Serena feels very relieved now. " _Maybe he didn't think much of it."_ She hopes for the best for the rest of the night.

Soon after their conversation a waitress comes by to take their orders. When she sees just the two of them "How cute. You two here on a date?" This surprises both of them, causing them to both blush.

Ash tries to laugh and denie her question in defense. "Hahaha, what? No, we..."

Serena adds in to finish his sentence while also defending herself. "We're friends. We're just friends."

Both Ash and Serena don't even notice the other blushing because of their own embarrassment. The waitress just responds with a smile and says " **Okay**. Well what can I get you two?" She decides to leave it be.

The two feel better after the waitress drops the topic. They continue to order their meals. Neither will bring up the topic again, afraid of the others response.

Later after their meals come both are very hungry by now, but only Ash looks at his food as though it's his prey. "Oh wow I'm starving." He digs straight in and continues to do so until he notices Serena looking at him with a smirk.

Meanwhile Serena's thinking " _Oh Ash, even when you're being messy you're so cute."_ She sees him look up and stop eating. "You weren't kidding about starving were you?"

Ash answers back with a smile. "Nope. Haha." He goes back to eating and so does Serena.

By now they've both finished eating and are leaving the restaurant. As they walk out the waitress is sure to wave and say "Goodbye, you two."

They both wave back and say "Goodbye." Now that they're back on the streets, they can get moving to their next destination. But where is that?

Ash asks Serena "So where do you wanna go now Serena?"

She is unsure. "I don't know. You've only got about a week left in Kalos. Where do you want to go?" She feels a bit sad after saying that. " _I can't believe Ash will be gone soon. I wish he could stay here in Kalos_."

Ash hears her words and considers them. " _I wish she wouldn't remind me that I'm going back to Kanto. I'd rather stay in Kalos, but of course my mom is making me go back. Huh, I don't know where to go now either_." He answers back with " I don't know where to go either really." An idea pops in his head. " But how about we go everywhere?!"

Serena is confused. "What do you mean **everywhere**?"

Ash explains his idea to her. " I mean, what if we just retravel all of Kalos together? Or most of Kalos anyways?"

Serena's face lights up seemingly as much as it possibly could. " _Oh my goodness! That has to be the greatest idea ever!_ " "Ash that would be amazing! We could revisit our favorite places! You're a genius. But which place would you like to go first?"

Ash is extremely happy that his idea made Serena extremely happy. " _Yes, She loved it! Now, where to go?"_ He tells Serena " I want you to choose."

Serena is flattered that Ash wants her to pick. " _hmm, where should we go first?_ " " How about we go to Vaniville? I'd like to see my mom again."

Ash assuring Serena that he likes her idea " Great, Then we're going to Vaniville!" hoists his fist high in the air.

Serena feels a bit embarrassed by his public action, but pushes the feeling aside. She's too happy to see him so excited about something **she** chose. "Alright then, let's go!

Ash grabs her hand and starts running off into the direction of Vaniville. Serena is tugged forward, so she goes with the momentum and runs alongside Ash.

Both are moving quickly down the street when Serena sees a store. It has a huge window with a gorgeous wedding dress in the center display. Serena is stunned in her tracks by it. She instantly stopped running to look at it. " _That one. It's the most beautiful dress I've ever seen. If I were getting married, that's my dream dress to wear on that day."_

Ash stopped as well. He sees the look on Serena's face as she stares at the dress. " _Wow, she's completely mesmerized by that thing. She looks like she's about to marry it. Good thing it's already dressed for the occasion."_ He laughs at his own joke. " Hahaha."

Serena is snapped out of her daze. She looks over to Ash realizing he laughed. With a small worried look on her face she thinks " _Is he laughing at me? He must be, what else would he be looking at me for while he laughed."_

Ash sees Serena with a worried look now. " _Oh no, she thinks I think this is ridiculous or something now doesn't she."_ He tries to make her feel a bit better. "I think it looks great Serena."

Serena doesn't believe his words. She thinks he's just trying to make her feel better as usual. " _Oh great, now he's giving me pity."_ "Ash, You don't have to say that. I get it. You probably think it's kinda ridiculous for a girl to look at a wedding dress like that, but somehow I just know that that's the one."

Ash putting his head down a little says "Sorry, I was just thinking it looked kind of funny how you were staring at it like you were going to marry it. And because it's a wedding dress I guess the thought was just too funny to me." He looks back up with a confirming smile to show he's serious.

Serena decides to just laugh at his corny little joke. "Haha, okay I'll try not to take it so seriously." Though she actually feels upset about it still.

Ash tries to get them moving again. "Come on Serena, don't wanna be late to your moms house do you?"

Serena looks at him and smiles. "Nope, lets go." The two get moving again and forget about what just happened for now.

After walking for a while on their way to the edge of Lumiose City on their way to Vaniville they decided to pick up a few things from a local store nearby. They were planning to have a picnic somewhere along the way to Vaniville, because it's quite the walk. After picking up the supplies they start heading out of the city and are back on their way to Vaniville. But a mile out from Lumiose they can see a figure up ahead coming their way.

Ash sees it first. "Hey Serena, look."Ash is still try to determine who it is.

Serena look down the path. " _Hmm! Who is that?"_ They've walked closer to the person now." _Wait that's... Oh no. I don't like him around me."_

Ash realizes who it is too. _"Ugh, this guy again. He's cool but keeps looking at Serena weird. I don't like it."_ Ash calls out to their old friend "Well well well, look who it is!"

Serena adds in "Hey Tierno, how's it going?" Because she wants to be nice, though he actually gives her the creeps.

Tierno replies back "Hey Ash, **Serena**." He gave Serena a wink when he said this. He now asks "So guys, where's Clemont and Bonnie?"

Ash answers him back. "They decided to stay back in Lumiose City with their dad. Plus, I think Clemont's eager to get Clembot ready to battle again."

Serena adds in "And well, Bonnie just follows her brother so..."

Tierno laughs at what Serena said. "Hahaha, true. So where are you guys headed?"

Serena says "Vaniville, we're going to go see my mom right now. It's one stop on our way around some of our favorite places in Kalos."

Tierno just replies back "Nice, but if you don't mind me asking, why are you guys retraveling through Kalos? I just figured that you guys would probably have gone separate ways or something by now."

Ash is a little upset he's saying this. "Well, you see. I kinda will be leaving Kalos soon, but it's not because I want to. My mom is making me because we're moving. I've got a little over a week until I go." He sighs after saying this.

Now Serena tells Tierno "And that's why we're going through the region to our favorite places. It because we'll have to say goodbye soon." She gets more upset as she said it. She really hates the reminder.

Tierno tries to show concern, but on the inside is excited that soon Serena might be feeling a little lonely and he could be the one that shows up to make her feel better. He hates himself for the feeling, but he gets an idea from it. "Hey Serena, if you need a friend around afterwards I'll always be around for you okay?" He gives a wink and a smile to help comfort her.

However on Serena's end it wasn't a comfort at all. In fact, it was a discomfort to her. She tries to be nice to him anyways. "Umm..., thanks Tierno. Good to know."

Ash is sitting back uncomfortable as well, but stays quiet unsure of what to say." _I really don't like the guy now."_

Tierno just remembered something important. "Oh yeah, I need to get to Lumiose City. I've run into some trouble back that way and now Blastoise needs to get to to a Pokemon Center. Hope I see you guys later, alright?"

Ash is much happier now that Tierno is leaving. "Alright, hope we meet again."

Serena was getting eager to say it. "Goodbye." She and Ash both wave as Tierno heads off to Lumiose City.

Serena not knowing how Ash feels about Tierno says "Well that was nice, I guess."

Ash is hoping she doesn't actually like him back when she said that."Umm sure. It's always great to see a friend again." He quickly tries to change the subject though. "So, we probably should hurry up and keep moving huh?"

Serena just answers back "sure" and keeps walking. She's slightly upset thinking about Ash's leaving. " _Why did Tierno have to remind me?"_

But she's surprised when Ash asks her "Umm... Serena, so do you actually like him? Tierno?" It's been bothering Ash for a while and he finally decided that he needed to know more on how she felt. He was going to leave in a little over a week anyway.

Serena is hit with emotion. She's trying not to blush, but can't hold it back. " _Ash thinks I might like Tierno? I don't, but why does he care?"_

Ash sees the obvious blush. " _She's blushing. She probably does like him and I just pointed it out."_

Serena answers him. "No..., I don't. Why do you ask?"

Ash thinks she's lying to him. " _She doesn't want me to know, but I saw the looks Tierno gave her. She responded pretty positive to them. Back at the restaurant she answered that we're just friends pretty quickly."_ "Umm, I don't know. I just guess... I was wondering what you might be doing after I'm gone is all."

Things are quiet between them as they're walking. It stays this way for a while. Eventually after trying to ignore each other long enough, they start giving each other looks. Serena would look over to Ash as if to say something, but would stop herself from saying what she's thinking." _I want to say something more, but I don't actually have any words to say. What do you say when someone asks you about that?"_

At the same time Ash is noticing her look over to him. He looks back every once in a while. " _I wish I could read a girls mind. Things are so much more complicated than they seem. I see her looking at me, but she never speaks. Why? Should I be saying something and if so, what?"_

Serena finally breaks the silence. " Ash, I-" But just as she starts to speak a drop of water hit her in the face. She looks up. The clouds are really dark.

Ash looks over to her eager to hear what she was going to say, but sees her looking up. He then looks up as well. Suddenly he was hit three times by rain droplets. "Serena, I think we should find a place to take shelter from the rain. He looks back to her and she's nodding at him. He quickly calls out Talon flame. "Talon flame. Buddy, you think you could find a place for us to keep dry?"

Talon flame responds in an agreeing way. "Talon." He then flies up high into the air and circles around scanning the area. Then he calls out "Flame!" to tell them that he can see a spot. He flies in its direction and Ash and Serena follow.

They both run back through the woods as it starts to rain harder. Ash leads the way, but Serena is close behind. Suddenly the rain is pouring down on them. Serena slips on the wet ground and fell in a small puddle. She squealed as she fell down. "Eeeeehhhhh!" She immediately was soaked.

As soon as Ash heard her squeal he turned around to check on her. "Serena! Are you okay?" He ran over to her and tried to help her up. She was crying. He was trying to help her stand up, but when she tried to take a step she screamed out in pain and fell back to the ground.

"Aaaaaahhhhh! It's my ankle." At this point Ash saw no other way. He picks Serena up in his arms in a cradle style and runs the direction Talon flame was headed. He looked up and saw Talon flame had circled back to wait on them. Talon flame continued to lead the way. It wasn't much further until Ash had run up on a clearing with a large rock wall. From the wall came a stream of water falling down into a small pond. But he could see a small cave by the waterfall. " _There. We'll hold up there until it's clear."_

Meanwhile Serena had been completely distracted by Ash. All she could do was stare at his face. And it was easing the pain." _Wow, he looks so determined. Like he's trying to save my life. His eyes are just glittering right now. Is he crying? It's funny, I don't feel much pain when I look into them. And his arms are so warm and embracing."_ She just continues to stare into his eyes and smile.

Ash ran into the cave. He looks over to Talon flame and says "good job, you can return."Talon flame with a cheery look says "Flame." and then returns to his comfy pokeball. Now he's looking for a place to lie her down and check on her. The cave seems to be extended to the side more. Ash walks that way and finds that it leads right behind the waterfall. It's a beautiful spot, so he decided go ahead and put her down up against a wall. As he does though, he notices her looking up at him smiling. He just looks back down at her with a smile." _She doesn't even look like she's hurt._ "Then he asks her "What are you so happy about?"

Serena suddenly snaps out of it. She's blushing again and has a scared look of shock on her face." _Oh no, I got lost in his eyes! His deep... Dark... Brown... eyes. Focus!"_ She takes a moment to say "U-Umm..., you're just a great person." She's extremely nervous and her heart is racing now.

Ash can feel her heartbeat pounding against him. " _Huh? Her heart is pounding! Does she...?"_ Ash starts to blush at the thought.

Serena is looking at Ash's face still." _Why is he turning so red? Wait, what's that thudding on my side?"_ Ash's heart was beginning to pound as hard as Serena's now. Ash decided it would be best that he goes ahead and puts her down. Serena's pain starts to increase again. She's upset by this. " _No! I thought we were having a moment._ "

Ash sees the disappointment on her face after he put her down." _She has to. I just know it. Well, come on Ash just do it."_ The rain has stopped and the clouds have separated. Sunlight is shining through the clouds now. It shines right through the waterfall and gives a glimmering feature to each of their faces. Ash is now stunned by the sight." _She looks more beautiful now than I've ever seen her look before._ " Ash then acts on instinct and leans in for a kiss.

Serena is in shock as she sees him leaning in. She's extremely nervous although she's dreamed of this forever. But when his lips make contact she forgets every nervous part about herself. She kisses him back and notices the pain fading away from her ankle. It's almost vanished entirely. After about ten short seconds, Ash pulls back. " _Aww, I wanted it to last longer. I can't believe that just happened though._ "

Ash thoroughly enjoyed it as well, he stopped afraid she would think he's suffocating her." _That was the most incredible and addictive thing I've ever done. I want to kiss her again, but I need to hold myself back."_

Serena asks Ash "Ash, why did you do that?"

Ash answers back with the best reason he could think of."I-I'd always wanted to, but after feeling your heart race and seeing the sunlight glimmering on your beautiful face I realized that I should do it, now or never."

Serena is in absolute awe. It takes her a minute to form words to say to Ash. "I-I... I feel the same way." A tear streams down her cheek and she quickly leans forward and hugs Ash. He hugs her back. They hold each other for a long time. Eventually Serena says "I'm so glad I have you Ash."

Ash is happy that she said that, but at the same time upset that he's going to have to leave for Kanto in shortly over a week. Regardless, he wants Serena to be happy right now so he doesn't mention the thought. Instead he tries to embrace her. "I'm so glad I have you too Serena." After a touching moment between them Ash finally decides to bring up her ankle now. "So how is your ankle? Let's check it out."

Serena being reminded of the injury suddenly starts feeling the pain grow back."Ow, I'd forgotten about it for a little while until you brought it up."

Ash says "Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were all right."

Serena just responds "I know I know, but to be honest it was like it disappeared when we... Uh... You know." Serena blushes again.

Ash is thinking " _Wow, she blushes a lot. Was it always like this? How could I not notice? Well, whatever the case. It's adorable."_ He looks down at her left ankle, which is the hurt one. "It looks swollen."

Serena says "Well it hurts too much to walk, and it's going to be dark before we could get to Vaniville like this. What are we gonna do?"

Ash looks back at her ankle. It could be while before the swelling goes down. Walking on it would probably slow how fast it'll heal." _We could have made it to Vaniville if she didn't get hurt, but we clearly can't now._ " "Well I guess we'll just have to camp out here for the night. It's dry in here anyway."

Serena agrees."Okay, but do you think you could make a fire? I'm getting cold because I got soaked. Braixen could help if you need."

Ash considers this."Hmm, a fire would be nice but I'm sure all of the wood around here is extremely damp now. Haha, maybe if Braixen used excessive amounts of flamethrower on it."

Now it's dark outside and only the moonlight is lighting the cave. Serena laughed back. "Haha, well I'm not going to be able to sleep well tonight then. Why didn't we bring sleeping bags?"

Ash has an awkward look on his face. "Yeah umm... About that, I actually left them back at Clemont and Bonnie's house." Ash just smiles and scratch the back of his head.

Serena just laughs at him."Hahaha, oh well I guess."She couldn't possibly be mad at him after what had just happened minutes ago. Ash is happy that she's not mad at him. Then Serena says "Well my ankle still really hurts, so I'm going to go to sleep if I can." Ash gives her a nod and lies down himself somewhere five feet over to her side. And as they both lie there facing opposite directions Serena says something."Hey Ash..."

Ash answers her back with "Yeah Serena?"

Serena has a brief pause before saying anything. "So about what just happened earlier... Are we...?" She's afraid to say the words. Both of them turn towards each other.

Ash realizes exactly what she's talking about. It's something he'd wondered himself. He asks her "Do you wanna be?"

Serena just asks him his own question back."Do **you** wanna be?"

Ash decides to end the cycle of questions. "Yeah."

Serena just smiles, blushes and says "Alright... Boyfriend. Goodnight."

Ash smiles back with a light blush. "Goodnight... Girlfriend." " _Boyfriend? Girlfriend? Why does it sound so right?"_

They both close their eyes and try to sleep. Serena thinks about what just happened." _Ash is my boyfriend. Finally... I've dreamed of this moment since he helped me back at summer camp in Kanto. Of course my ankle hurts a lot, but I wouldn't change a thing about today now._ " Serena just smiles as she tries to sleep.

Ash opened his eyes to look at her again. He saw her with that smile on her face." _She looks so cute just lying there, she must be really happy about us being closer now."_

Serena however started getting uncomfortable due to the cold. Her clothes were still damp and she had nothing else to wear. She had started shivering, but persisted to try and fall asleep anyway.

Ash saw her start shivering. As she did the cute smile he was staring at disappeared. Ash wasn't very cold. He wanted to fix it, but what could he do? " _How can I make her warmer? Wait, I've got it._ " Ash then started scooting closer to Serena until he was right up against her. He wrapped an arm around her and saw her eyes open. She was shocked that he did something like that for her. But then her face calmed and her smile eased back onto her face. And just like that they fell asleep.

The next morning Ash woke to realize he's lying on his back. He looked down and saw Serena's head on top of his chest. All he could was smile and blush at the sight.

But seeing Serena there only increased his heart rate. Serena had felt the thudding on her ear. She started to open her eyes."What's that? Huh? _Is something wrong with Ash?_ " She looks up to see the boy looking back at her.

Ash realized it was his own feelings that caused her to wake up. He's embarrassed and feels kind of bad about it. He gives a smile and says "Sorry..."

Serena just smiles back and says "I don't mind." She lies her head back down on his chest listening to the beat. "It's good to know how you feel."

Ash is speechless. The girl he likes, likes him back so much. It's like everything had just come into place for him. They just lay there for a long time after.

Eventually Serena picked her head up. Then she sat up and began to examine her ankle. It looks a lot less swollen than it had last night.

Ash sat up and saw what she was doing. He then asked her "How's it doing?"

Serena replies after wiggling it around. "It's almost unnoticeable now."

As gives her a grin and says "Okay, well do you think that you could walk the rest of the way to Vaniville?"

Serena answers him more positive. "I'm sure of it!"

Ash is surprised by her burst of energy. "Wow, well alright. When do you wanna get moving again?"

Serena gets up and starts testing out her ankle. It hurts her, but hardly at all. She looks back down at Ash."Right now, let's go."

She starts pulling him up to his feet. Ash says "Haha, okay I'm coming." as she pulls him up. Now on their feet, they take off outside of the cave. When they get out far enough, they look back and see that the location is a really beautiful place. It has a sparkling waterfall, a small pond at the end of the waterfall with a river running off to the side, even the grass is lush and relatively short. Ash and Serena look at each other with seemingly the same idea. Ash asks her "So breakfast?"

Serena responds to him."Yes, I was so excited to get moving again and see my mom that I almost forgot to eat."

Ash laughs."Haha, yeah well we didn't get that stuff for a picnic for nothing."

Serena gives him a somewhat mad look."I know. It's just been really... **Interesting** lately." She gave him a blushy smile after saying that.

Ash smiled back reminded of the amazing thing that happenedu the night before. He then began to setup everything up for their picnic and called out all of his Pokemon.

Serena helped him get things ready and called out her Pokemon too. All of their Pokemon gathered around and enjoyed the picnic with them. Serena starts to look at Ash as he is holding Pikachu in his lap. He's smiling and happy. Pikachu is just nibbling on something. Then Serena loses track of her thoughts. " _Hmm, Ash loves his Pokemon so much. And recently I found out he likes me. I wonder if I'll ever become more important than them to him. Maybe I already am! Calm down Serena, that's ridiculous. He's going to be leaving soon. He probably just has a small crush and did something about it because he knew he was going to leave."_

Ash suddenly calls out "Serena!"

Serena snaps out of her thoughts. "Huh, yeah Ash?"

Ash says "I was just wondering if you were still there. It seemed like you were zoning out. Are you okay?"

Serena covers up her doubts. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Ash is still concerned for her but replies "Okay." After spending some time with their Pokemon and doing things like training with them and playing with them for a while, Ash and Serena pack up the leftover picnic supplies and head in the direction to get out of the woods through the same way that they came in, but as Ash and Serena are leaving Ash notices Serena looking over at the puddle she fell in."Serena, is everything okay?"

She calmly looked back up to him and said "yeah, I was just thinking... I was thinking that I wouldn't change a thing."

All Ash could say was"Oh." He was pretty stunned that she had said that and so calm and easily. He realized she had become more comfortable in their newfound relationship." _I need to be more like that._ " So as they both continue to get back to the main path, Ash would try and walk closer to her. Once they've both gotten back on the path to Vaniville, Ash grabs her hand and holds it as they walk to Serena's moms house.

To be continued...

—

Thank you so much for reading this. It took lots of effort. If you liked it please let me know. More chapters to come, but it takes a lot of time to plan and write out these things so I won't have them come out often. However if people do really like it then that's more motivation for me. Also I'm sorry I haven't included much of the actual Pokemon themselves in this, but Im trying to play to my strengths and I need to work on that.

Word count(including these): 5,274


	2. Chapter 2: Best day ever

It's been only an hour since they left the cave they had slept in the night before, but already Ash and Serena have just arrived at the edge of Vaniville. The new couple might be growing in their relationship, but things have still been a little awkward for them. Serena has been heavily contemplating something as they've been walking. " _How am I going to tell my mom? Wait, should I even tell her? Of course in normal circumstances I would definitely tell her, but with Ash leaving one week from tomorrow..._ " Serena sighs. " _I don't know. Maybe I should ask Ash what he thinks. And maybe I shouldn't. My mom doesn't need to know though, she could react negatively. Ash will leave soon anyway._ " The thoughts make her sad and the feeling shows.

Ash heard Serena's sigh and looked over at her. She was looking straight ahead, but seemed upset about something. "Hey Serena, is something bothering you?"

Serena looked up surprised. " _Dang it! He noticed._ " She is uncertain of what to say. "Umm, no. I'm good. I'm just umm thinking." She hopes he'll leave it be.

Ash knows that something is up now. He tells her "If **anything at all** is bothering you, you can tell me." He's hoping she'll tell him something.

Serena continues to believe it'd be best he didn't know. "Thank you, and when that time comes I'll be sure to let you know."

Ash still doesn't believe that nothing is going on, but if she doesn't want him to know this badly then he's willing to ignore it.

Serena is relieved that he stopped asking her about it. After walking further into Vaniville, Serena and Ash can finally see the Serena's house. She's very excited and Ash can tell by the look on her face. Serena starts running to her house. Ash sees her running ahead and runs with her. About thirty seconds later they're at the front door. Serena begins knocking on the door. A voice inside answers back. "Coming!" A short moment later the door knob starts turning and the door swings open. Grace calls out "Serena!" Ash and Serena are both looking at a happy mother who's bending down a bit to hug her daughter immediately. As Grace is hugging Serena, Serena is also returning the hug.

Ash smiles at the sight. He's looking at the family reunited and starts thinking to himself " _Wow, I'm glad they get to see each other again. It's been a while since Serena got to see her mom last. In fact, it's been a while since I got to see my mom. I miss her. I need to try calling her again sometime soon._ " Ash's smile fades a little, but he's still very happy to see Serena with her mom.

Grace lets go of Serena first and pulls back from the hug. "I missed you sweetie." She turns her head over towards Ash. "And it's nice to see you too."

Serena replies back "I missed you too mom." Serena is just standing there smiling at the things that have been happening to her recently. Of course the ankle part hurt, but it worked out for the best to her. She feels like nothing can bring her down right now.

Grace sees how happy Serena looks. "Well you seem extremely happy. I'm glad to see that. So, Where are your other friends?"

Serena says "Oh yeah, Clemont and Bonnie. Well..., they decided to stay in Lumiose City with their dad. I think Clemont really wants to fix Clembot as well."

Grace has an interested look on her face. "Okay, but wait. It's just the two of you now?"

Ash has his hand on the back of his head showing embarrassment. He already knows where she's going with this.

But Serena doesn't know what her mother is talking about. "Umm... Yeah, why?"

Grace raises an eyebrow at her and glances over to Ash. "Come sit down inside for a moment. Both of you." She turns around and walks into the living room. Ash and Serena look at each other. Ash has a nervous look which makes Serena nervous too. Serena goes in and Ash follows. Grace tells them to "Take a seat" on the couch and they both do.

Ash's heart is starting to beat faster. " _I wonder if she already knows. Is it obvious? I'm sure we were going to tell her, but I figure Serena should be the one to announce it. It's her mom after all._ " Ash looks over to Serena. She doesn't seem very nervous. In fact she looks more curious than anything else.

After Serena sat down for a moment, she asked her mom "What is it?" She hasn't shown any signs that her and Ash are together yet, so she's thinking " _Surely my mom doesn't know yet, Right?_ " She waits for her mom to answer.

Grace says"Well... As you know, you haven't really grown up with a father. That's why sometimes I have to be harder on you than I want to be... I feel that this is one of those times. This goes for both of you by the way. I know that you're getting around the age where you want to do things you wouldn't have considered a few years ago."

Serena feeling embarrassed tries to cut in. "Mom-"

Grace puts her hand up and shushes her."Don't interrupt... Now, I just need to say that I **will not** be having that. Serena, I trust you darling. But at some point it needs to be said. I promised myself after your father passed that I would do anything he would've had to do to make up for his absence for you." She then looks straight at Ash. "As for you, as I would tell any boy that's going to be alone with my daughter at any point in time. I swear to Arceus..., If you do anything more than what's appropriate to my daughter... I will find you and do something more than is appropriate to you. Do you understand?"

Ash is actually kind of scared now. He immediately answers her. "Yes ma'am." Serena however feels embarrassed and is putting her face down. Also she feels a little upset because she's hearing something about her father that she lost when she was a baby, and hearing how much her mom cares about making her feel like she's had a father all her life.

Grace says"With that said, I'm sure you both understand why I had to say that. It's not that you might have been thinking of anything like that, but in case you ever do. It's important to me that I do this for your fathers sake Serena... Anyways, how are things going?"

The quick adjustment was awkward and surprising. Ash and Serena are still trying to process all of the things Grace just told them, But Ash speaks up first. "Things are good."

Grace asks Ash "What are you doing now, after losing the Kalos league? Are you going to try again?"

Ash answers back "I wish I could, but my mom is making me go back to Kanto so we can get ready to move to somewhere else. After today, I've only got a week before I have to take a plane back." Ash's face goes to frowning as he said that.

Grace says "Hmm, well that's too bad. Kalos is a beautiful place full of beautiful things. Anything you'd miss specifically about it?"

Ash's mind immediately has an answer. " _Serena..._ " He glanced over at Serena with a smile. But he couldn't say that. At least not right now. If Serena wanted her mother to know about them then she would tell her. Until then, he tries to find an answer for her. "Umm... Mega evolutions, I guess."

Serena saw Ash look at her when he heard the question. It made her blush at the thought that she was the thing he'd miss most in Kalos, or at least the thing he thought of first. She realized that her mother might see the blush and tried looking away for a moment.

It must've been too late. Grace asks "Serena sweetheart, is something wrong? You're awfully red."

Serena quickly responds "Nope, I'm fine." as she continues to keep her face hidden.

Grace is suspicious of her. She looks at Ash who's turning red as well. He starts turning his head the other way. "Hmm... I think you should just tell me what's going on. Don't lie to me Serena."

Serena looks back at her mom. " _This is it._ " She takes a deep breath and exhales. "Well... I suppose now is the best time to say it... Ash is my boyfriend." She felt her cheeks heat up intensely as she said it. Even Ash felt relief that it was finally said. He had let out a breath he'd been holding in since Grace told Serena to tell her what's going on.

When Grace heard this she just smiled and giggled for a moment. Then she says "That's cute. Heheheh, it explains why you two seem so nervous."

Serena and Ash are still confused. Was her answer a positive one? "Umm, mom. So you don't mind that?"

Grace replies "Of course not honey. I think you two are cute together, but how long has this been a thing? If you don't mind me asking."

Serena liked hearing her mom say that they were cute together. She looks over to Ash for a moment with a smile. She's reminded of the night they shared and how caring Ash was to her. She looks back to her mom and answers "Well..., yesterday actually."

Grace is happy for them, but still feels the lingering question. "And what do you plan to do when he has to leave? You did say that you **had to** , didn't you Ash?"

Ash sighs. He then answers in a depressed tone "Yes, I did. But believe me, I don't want to." It's fairly silent after this.

Serena gets an idea, but she doesn't even believe it has a chance. Though silent, she says "Hey mom... I could always maybe try going with him. If that's okay with you."

Ash is surprised by her. " _Would she really leave her home, and_ ** _entire region_** _to go with me? I don't want her to leave her mom for me._ "

Grace laughs. "Hahahaha, absolutely not! I'm not going to let you leave the region to go with your **first** new boyfriend that you **just** started dating **yesterday**."

Serena could easily see why her mom would say that. " _What am I thinking? Of course she would say no. It makes sense that she won't let me._ "Ash stayed quiet because he felt that this was more of a personal conversation that he just happened to be in.

Grace then goes to say "I'm happy for you... But keep in mind this is only lasting a week." She looks at Ash again. "And keep in mind what I said earlier too." Ash gave her a nod. "Now, why don't you two go clean up and enjoy some of the time you have left. The fall festival is tonight after all."

Serena nods her head. "Yeah, let's do that. Ash, we just have to go."

Ash asks Grace "Sure, let's go. , could you keep my Pokemon for me here?"

Serena adds in "Oh, mine too?"

Grace tells answers "Sure thing Ash, you too Serena. But go clean up first and be careful while you're gone."

As they both put their Pokeballs down and Pikachu jumped over into Grace's lap, Serena says "Don't worry, we will. C'mon Ash let's hurry." Serena and Ash quickly get up to go take their showers. Afterward, Serena asks Ash "I'm sorry that was so awkward. So, what you wanna do today?"

Ash grabs her hand. "Don't worry about it. Whatever you wanna do." Serena starts blushing again. " _There's that blush I love, it's purely adorable. I only wish I wouldn't be hurting her by having to leave._ "

Serena happily has an idea. "Well, I know somewhere we can go. It was somewhere I always loved to go before I set off on a journey with you."

Ash says "Then it's a date."

Immediately Serena's blush grew as she paused for a moment. She hadn't thought about that. "I guess it **is**. Hehe." She smiled, latched her fingers around his hand and pulled him towards the front door. They left her house and set off to the local town.

Once they made it into the small local town, Ash gets curious as to where they're going. "So, it's in town here?"

Serena looks back at the boy she's dragging. "Nope."

Ash has a look of confusion on his face. "What? Then what are we doing here?"

Serena laughs. "Haha, I just wanted get something for the date. But first I wanted us to spend the day in town."

Ash is slightly less confused, but still wondering "Wait, so the date isn't happening until later?"

Serena answers him. "Well, I want to save that part for last. This whole day is the date, so how about you pick something for now?"

Ash says "Okay, well umm... I don't know what to say, but maybe... How about we get some ice cream?" " _Please be a good idea, please be a good idea, please be a good idea._ "

Quite conveniently to Ash, Serena says "That's a good idea." and Ash just chuckles at the words. Serena, curious as to why Ash is chuckling at her asks "What's with you?" " _It's cute when he does that._ "

Ash just responds "Nothing. C'mon, let's find some ice cream." So the two get ice cream from a local stand nearby and walk the streets for a little while. With their free hands, hand in hand, fingers crossed and overlapping each other. It was the real date they'd never had. Every once in a while someone might recognize Serena and say hello. She'd happily say hi back and even introduce Ash. As the day went on Ash would ask about some of the local people here and what she liked to do for fun before she started journeying with him. Serena would answer his questions and ask her own about him. They'd been chatting with each other all day, learning more about each other. It wasn't long before it became late in the day. They came up on the town fall festival which was just getting started. It wasn't much, at best it had a Ferris wheel. No other ride, but what can you expect? Other than that it was mostly just some game booths and places to picnic and eat. They'd be projecting a movie on a blank white screen when it got dark in a few hours. They played a few games and had a snack. Then Ash says "Hey, let's try that." He's referring to a game where you would throw darts at balloons. There different color balloons, with each color being a different size. Yellow being the biggest, green the next biggest, then blue and then red. They were on a board about ten feet away.

The man running the game said "Good afternoon, Would you like play? It's five dollars. You get three darts. If you can hit all reds, you'll get to choose from the large prizes. If you hit at least all blue, you get a medium prize. At least hit all green, you'll get a small prize. And no prize for yellows."

Ash looks over to Serena at his side and says "I'm gonna get you something." He walked up to the man running the game and placed five dollars in his hand. "Let's do this." The man handed him three darts. He held two darts in his left had and took his stance. With his right hand holding the other dart and ready to throw. He pulled his arm back slowly and then took a deep breath and held it. Quickly he thrust his arm forward and released the dart. It flew through the air, hitting and popping a balloon. "Yes! Red one." He takes the second dart from his left hand and begins to repeat the process. He threw his next dart and hits another one. "Whew, two red's. Just one more."  
" _Come on Ash, make her happy with the biggest prize._ " Again, he takes his last dart and throws it. But his fingers slipped from the sweaty palms he had from being nervous. He popped another balloon, but it wasn't the one he wanted. Instead he popped a green balloon.

The man running the game said "Well, you almost had it. You still get to choose from one of the small prizes. Which one would you like?"

Ash was about to pick something, but instead turned to Serena and asked "You pick, which one do you want?"

Serena was holding her hand to her heart. She looked at the options and picked. With her finger of her other hand pointing at it, she said "That one." The man grabbed it down and handed it to Ash. Ash then handed it to her. It was a plush Fenniken doll. It had reminded her of when she had first gotten her Fenniken. The day she'd met her best Pokemon friend, and the day she set off to meet Ash. It was a day unforgettable, and a day she knew she'd never forget. That's what this doll symbolized to her. She'd never regret what she did that day, because it all led to this. And she decided that she would keep this with her forever. Maybe most of the time it would be in her bag, but for today she's keeping it in her crossed arms. "Thank you Ash."

Ash has a light blush and slides his finger under his nose in sign of embarrassment. "You're welcome, but it's nothing. I failed to get you the big prize."

Serena tells him "Don't worry, it worked out for the best. I couldn't have kept anything bigger with me all the time. I'd have to leave it at home if it were one of the big prize options. I'm going to cherish it forever."

Ash is in a bit of shock. "Wow, I didn't realize that it meant so much to you. Now I'm glad I got the small prize though. Hahaha."

With one arm wrapping the doll around her waist, she grabbed Ash's arm with the other. "Alright, now let's ride the Ferris wheel once before we go to my secret spot." She drags him along with her as they get into line for the Ferris wheel. By this time, it's almost sunset. Soon enough, they've both gotten onto it and are securing themselves in. It's a small Ferris wheel, so there's only a single seat for two people at a time and it only goes slightly higher than the tree line. Both of them are sitting down with a bar strapped across them. They're excited as it starts moving. It does a few slow loops and they can look out across the small town.

Ash says "I can see both ends of the town when we're up high." Suddenly, when they reached the peak of height it stopped moving. It would start back up in a few minutes. For now, they enjoy the sunset view over the tree line. Ash starts thinking to himself. " _This is like a perfect day. I loved spending it with her..., but it's going to kill me to part ways and say goodbye._ " Ash sighs." _I wish there was a way around it._ "

Serena heard Ash sigh. "Ash, what is it?" She sit there waiting for an answer.

Ash looks at her. " _There she is..., as beautiful as always. Gorgeous wavy hair, smooth radiant skin, the sparkle in her eyes..., of course that could be partly because of the sunset, but still... Those soft pink lips... Lips..._ " Ash without thinking, leaned towards Serena.

Serena pulled in by her instincts, leaned towards Ash. Slowly, with the turn of their heads, they both leaned just a little further and kissed. The feeling was so warming. It was absolute magic. It was almost as though Serena expected to look up and see fireworks. She felt a lust overcome her. " _I don't want to stop... Ever..._ " Soon she'd find herself leaning over Ash, taking control of the situation. She began to suck the life from him.

Ash, though he loved every millisecond of it, was losing air. He had to stop..., to breath. He'd grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back just out of range. He missed the feeling already. His lips felt lonely now, like they were missing a piece of themselves. "Sorry... I just needed to breath."

Serena had an extremely red blush. Her face was glowing, she had been so embarrassed. It was like her to lose control of herself, but she did. She eased back into her seat more. She turned her head back to the sunset. " _I can't believe that I'd lose myself like that. Is it... because of him?_ " "I'm so sorry Ash."

Ash holds her hand and gives her a smile. "Don't worry, I almost did the same thing. I didn't want to stop, but I had to."

Serena looks back at him with a big smile. She's just so happy to be with him. Especially right here, right now. The Ferris wheel starts moving again. Soon they'd be let off of the ride. It was easing down, letting people off. Soon enough, Ash and Serena were off too. Now that they were off, Serena asks "So, are you ready to see it?"

Ash nearly forgot about going somewhere else. "Oh yeah, I'm ready as always. But isn't it getting a little late to go now?"

Serena giggles. "Hehehehe, nope. Really late is the best time to be there." Serena starts leading the way. She's walking outside of town back towards her house when she takes a different route. It's leading to a path through a forest. By now it's getting very dark, so they pull out flashlights. They've been walking around all day. From going to the small park making wishes at a fountain to the small town festival. It's pretty average for them to be on the move often, but it was starting to make them tired now. Finally, after a fifteen minute trek through the woods they've come to stopping point. They walk out of the edge of the woods and there's a cliff, and beyond that the ocean. The moon is full and bright with no trees blocking the light from that direction. There's a cool light breeze blowing from over the ocean. The ocean water is sparkling with the reflection of moonlight and the stars are countless. "Here we are."

Ash is in awe of the view. They've seen a lot of beautiful views with mountains, valleys and sunsets, but Serena loved this one for a reason. It's a beautiful region all over, but this was something more special and dazzling to the eye. "Wow."

Serena ran forward and turned around excited to see Ash's reaction. "Isn't it just the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"

Ash answers her. "No." Serena is shocked at how quick and blatantly he answered her, not agreeing with it being the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. "But that's because I don't think anything could top you." He then grins. Serena's face settles and she walks up to him and hits him in the arm. "Ow." Then she kisses him on the cheek. She turned around and wrapped his arms around her. Neither felt as awkward as they had before. It was becoming a natural relationship. After standing there taking in the view for a while, they decided to sit back against a tree just behind them. But sometimes still bothered Ash. As happy as he was, he knew it would all end. And the longer they were together the harder it would be to let each other go. He tries to shake the thought and enjoy the moment. It was another perfect setting, and they felt the attraction between them pulling at them. As they sat there happily, they start easing closer to each other. Very soon it was both of them squished up against each other.

Serena wanted him, wanted to just hug and kiss him all night. But of course she would have to get back home to where her mom was expecting her to return tonight. She wanted to say something to him. "Ash..." Ash turned his head towards her, interested in what she was going to say. She found his eyes staring into hers. " _There they are, those luscious chocolate brown eyes. I think I like the color of brown eyes more than any other. They just pull me in._ " Serena hadn't realized that she was leaning in towards him.

Serena hadn't spoke for about ten seconds. Ash was curious what she wanted to say. He asked her "Yeah Serena?"

Serena forgetting all of what she wanted to say said "Umm... I just... want to..." She couldn't think straight enough to focus on what she wanted to say. She started kissing him. And though Ash was a little surprised, he just started kissing her back. He wanted to anyways. It was so passionate and endearing. It made them feel like they were in love, like they were a married couple already. The two were getting extremely comfortable with each other now. Serena fell over. Ash trying to keep their lips locked, falls with her. He's over the top her now. The desire in his kiss, Serena can feel it. She's letting out a moan.

Ash's hand is sliding up her side. It's easing its way under her shirt. He's starting to slide it up her waist now, but suddenly he stops everything. He stops his hand and his mouth. " _What am I doing? I can't be doing this to her. Why was she letting me?_ "

Ash sits back up now. Serena asks "What is it?" She was lost in lust. She hadn't minded his touch.

Ash told her "I don't think we should do this. I started to go too far. I'm sorry. This is what your mom was talking about."

Serena has sad look on her face. "Okay, yeah. We probably shouldn't. Do you you wanna leave now?"

Ash says "Not just yet. Come on, we can still sit back on this tree for a while enjoying the view." So they both did. They sat back against the tree staring at the moonlit sparkling water and stars above it. But this time with Serena in front of him lying her head back on his chest. Both looking forward, and both once again enjoying the peace.

Both were in their own thoughts. In Serena's mind, she thinks about the day she'd just had. She's super happy. " _This was the best day ever._ "

However, in Ash's mind was something else. Something that had been bothering him more and more through out the day. " _I love being with her, but I almost went too far. I can't let that happen. This is all just making it harder and harder for me to say goodbye in the end. It's getting worse everyday I'm with her. I can't imagine how bad it'll hurt her, I don't want to. I can't do this to her. I can't keep going knowing I'm making it worse for her in the end... I have to break up with her... Now before it gets worse. I'll do it tomorrow._ "

To be continued...

—

Oh no, don't do it Ash! You'll break my heart more. Hey everyone, glad to see you decided to read the second chapter of my story. Again, I don't try to do too much with the Pokemon because I try to focus on the main characters. Let me know what you think. If you like it, votes are appreciated. If you want to give your opinion, leave a comment. I'll likely respond to comments. Thanks for the read again.

Word count(including these): 4,703


	3. Chapter 3: Worst day ever

The night had gotten very late and Ash and Serena walked back to her house hoping that her mom wouldn't be mad and give them a lecture like before. After walking back inside they found that though she **was** waiting for them, she didn't get mad at them for coming back at such a late hour. Instead she simply told them "Glad to see you two made it back safely. Your Pokemon have have missed you, but they had fun here."

Ash said "Well that's great to hear." He had wondered how much Pikachu might have been missing him.

Serena walked over to her Braixen. "Good to see you again." As she did Ash was doing the same and walking up to his Pokemon.

He kneeled down and Pikachu ran and jumped up into his arms screaming "Pika!" Ash replied "I missed you too buddy, haha." He tried to keep his smile for them, though in the back of his mind lingered the thought that he was dreading.

Grace called out "Hey Ash."

Ash replied curiously "Ma'am?"

Grace said "Did you enjoy your day in Vaniville?"

Ash replied "Yeah, A lot." He saw her giving him a suspicious look, but it faded as fast as it came. " _What's that about?_ "

Grace said "Well if you two are tired—And I assume you probably are—Then there's an extra room for you, Ash. Serena, you can stay in your room as usual, at the **other** end of the hall upstairs."

Ash suddenly picked up on what the look before might've been about. " _Oh, she's probably just worried about us getting_ ** _too_** _close. Well, not much longer and she'll need not worry anymore. Ugh, I hate the way that sounds already._ " He remains to keep his politeness as he says "Thank you ma'am."

Serena feels embarrassed by her mothers obvious intentions. " **Mom** , please. Come on Ash, let's get our rest, in **separate** rooms." She added in the words to make a joke of what her mom said.

Ash gives a polite smile to Grace and says "Goodnight." He got up with Pikachu in his arms and started to follow Serena. Just before he did though, he turned back to his other Pokemon and said "You guys have your pokeballs, so you already have a comfy place to sleep. That's why I'm gonna let you stay down here for the night, so you can go to sleep when you want okay?" They all responded with their respective cries as if to say goodnight. Ash smiled and said "Goodnight guys." He turned back around and saw Serena waiting for him with a cute smile. "Alright, I'm ready."

Serena had been thinking while she watched Ash talk to his Pokemon. " _I love this about him. He cares so much for his Pokemon, he's jumped off of the Lumiose tower to save Pikachu and even into a volcano to save Talon Flame. And when it isn't Pokemon, it's people._ " Serena noticed him turn toward her and she snapped herself out of her thoughts. "Oh, right. Yeah, let's go. Follow me." So up the stairs they went as Serena led Ash to his room. "Okay, you can stay in here for the night. I'm excited to see where you wanna go next."

Ash froze as he felt a big metaphorical slap to the face from hearing that. She still didn't know what he was planning to do later, and he didn't want to do it tonight. "Uh...Serena..." He didn't know what to tell her. Surely he couldn't just lie to her and just make up a place.

Serena was curious about why he seemed to be struggling to tell her something. She immediately got concerned for him and asked "What is it, Ash?" He started to put his head down. This was starting to make her extremely worried. "Ash, you can tell me anything."

Ash knew he had to act quickly. He didn't want to ruin the day they had. After today, he could do it, but not until. He quickly looked back up at her with a large smile, as best as he could pull off, and said "Pikachu wants a goodnight hug." He started holding Pikachu out further from his body. Pikachu had confusedly cried out "Pika?", but had quickly decided to go with it and jumped out of Ash's arms into Serena's while crying out "Pika!"

Serena was surprised when Pikachu did that, but caught him. Pikachu had cozied up into Serena's arms. She was looking down at him and smiling. He really liked her. She held him like he was her little baby. "Haha, goodnight Pikachu."

Ash was looking at the two and only felt worse about what he was going to do. He'd never seen anyone so close with Pikachu other than himself. He saw a bond between them that he could only imagine **himself** having with Pikachu. It was as though if Ash were gone, she'd easily be the one that could take Pikachu in as her own Pokemon. He remembered something Clemont and Bonnie had told him about when he got sick. They told him that after they got back with the medicine for him that they saw Serena and Pikachu battling against that guy Jimmy that liked to play that guitar really loud. They said that when they saw her battling, they actually thought it was him. It's incredible to think that her and Pikachu were able to battle as though they were partners on their own journey. " _Oh no, she's looking back up at me._ "

Serena hadn't thought that this was what Ash wanted to tell her. She enjoyed holding Pikachu and bidding him goodnight, but she was still curious about Ash's thoughts. She figured that Ash wasn't going to tell her tonight, and that she could just try asking again later. So as she tried handing Pikachu back over to him, she planted a kiss on his cheek and said "Goodnight Ash."

Ash felt relieved that she was leaving him, but she left him with something that yet again made it harder for him to let her go. He enjoyed the kiss too much in his own opinion. "Goodnight Serena."

And with that, she left his room. She suddenly stopped in the hallway and put her hand on her chest where her heart is. She felt a pain on the inside. So she decided to walk back downstairs to ask her mom something. "Hey mom, do we have anything for heartburn?"

Grace asked her back "You have heartburn?"

Serena answered her with "Yeah, I think so."

Grace got up. "Okay, well I'll see what there is." She walked off to another room and a minute later came back with a pill and a glass of water. "Here, this should help."

Serena took the pill and glass of water from her and said "Thank you." She put the pill in her mouth and swallowed some water to wash it down. She handed her mom the glass and said "Alright, Goodnight mom."

Grace told her "Goodnight sweetie." And took the glass back into the kitchen.

Serena walked back up the stairs and went to her room. Everything was just as she remembered it. It seems that nothing was touched since she left. She put on her pajamas and laid down on her bed, pulling a blanket up over her. As she tried to sleep, she thought about the amazing things that had happened between her and Ash today.

Ash was still lying in his bed awake. He couldn't stop thinking about what he was going to have to do. He didn't want to sleep because time went by faster that way and that means that he'd have to do it sooner. But he knew that every second awake was another second he'd have to dwell on it, so he tried to sleep anyway. After a short while he finally fell asleep.

The next morning, Serena slid her eyes open slowly and stretched out her arms while still lying in bed. She felt a natural yawn and let it loose. She felt excitement to see Ash again, so she got up and got dressed. She walked over to his room and knocked a few times. "Ash, wake up!" He didn't answer her. She got fed up him wanting to sleep away the day and barged in. The bed was made and empty. She walked downstairs to see if he was eating breakfast already. When she walked into the kitchen, he wasn't there either. She saw her mom making something and asked her "Mom, where's Ash?"

Grace replied "Don't worry, he said he wasn't hungry and left already."

Serena burst out "Left?!"

Grace looked at her daughter with confusion and concern. "He didn't tell you? He said he was going to go ahead and go, and later you'd meet back up with him."

Serena was even more confused and concerned than her mother. " _Why would he not tell me? How was I supposed to know?_ " "Did he say where?"

Grace answered "No, I thought he'd already told you."

Serena tried to think of where he might've gone and only one place had come to mind. " _The cliff, from last night._ " She looked her mother in the eyes and said "I don't know for sure, but I think I've got an idea." Serena quickly started to get her bag and Pokeballs so she could leave.

Her mother tried to stop her. "Serena, don't you want any breakfast first?"

Serena answered "No, I'm not hungry right now." On the inside she hadn't felt hungry because her concern was holding back all her other thoughts. She grabbed the doorknob of the front door and paused to turn her head back to her mother once more. She had a bad feeling that felt painful to her heart. She placed her free hand on her chest. "Mom, if I'm not back today then we probably left Vaniville for a while." With that she pulled open the door and left. She hurried to the entrance of the path that would lead back to the cliff they were at the previous night.

Meanwhile, Ash was sitting still. He was crying with his knees pulled up to his chest and burying his face. " _I can't do it. I can't do it! I can't stand to see her face anymore. I don't want to see it cry. If I just stay away, maybe she'll think I died, and maybe she'll think I just left her forever, but that's better than telling her I want to break up._ " Ash looked up briefly. " _I thought this place would be comforting, but it doesn't actually help me forget her at all._ "

Serena found the path to the cliff and sprinted down it. After another five minutes of running, she slowed down. She was almost there. " _Please be here Ash. Please be waiting for me with a smile._ " She walked slightly further and came to the cliff she expected find him at. Her eyes frantically started searching for him. " _There._ " She saw him and was about to call out to him when she noticed his position. She saw how he was curled up against the exact tree they were sitting against the night before. " _Ash...?_ " She slowly walked toward him. She stood right in front of him. Softly, she said "Ash." He looked up at her and she saw fear and panic on his face.

Ash saw her and realized through his tears that Serena was standing in front of him. He freaked out and his eyes widened. What was he going to say? " _Serena?! How did she know where I was? Why is she here?_ " With a croak in his voice he said "Serena... Why are you here?"

Serena is wondering why he isn't happy to see her. She's concerned that something happened to him, but what? Did his mother die? "Ash... I was looking for you. What's wrong?"

Ash felt a spark of happiness inside him from hearing her say that, but quickly scolded himself and pushed it down. "I'm fine, how did you know I'd be here?"

Serena answered "Because Ash... I know you, and this is where my heart told me you'd be. You can tell me anything, so tell me, what's wrong?"

Ash stood up and looked her in the eyes. Ocean blue, they stared back into his own. " _She makes me so much more comfortable. Ahh, No! It's going to be harder than ever now, but I have to do it... for her..._ " Ash has tears falling from his eyes.

Serena sees them and wants to comfort him. She wraps her arms around him. "It's okay Ash. I'm here for you. Whatever it is, I'm here for you."

Ash didn't hug her back. He instead pushed her back slowly. She was surprised. He took a deep breath and tried to regain and keep his composure. "Serena... I want to break up."

Serena was in shock. Her eyes were watering up and it looked like she was about to cry. "Ash, you don't mean that." She couldn't believe he was serious.

Ash knew he'd have to do something more drastic. He'd have to lie to her. "I-I don't like you. I want you to leave me alone... I never want to see you again." He felt his heart shatter and knew Serena must've felt the same. He saw her face. She was crying immensely. He wanted nothing more than to hold her and tell her how everything would be okay and that he didn't mean it, but he knew he couldn't do that and it was killing him inside. " _The worst part is over, I have to go._ "

Serena felt a massive pain in her chest. Those words were the last thing she expected to hear, and the last she wanted to hear. Her heart had been shattered and Ash was just walking away. As she was drowning in her own tears she scuffed up a word. "Why?!"

Ash stopped walking for a moment, but didn't turn around. He couldn't let her see him crying, and he never wanted to see her cry again. He told her "It's for the best." He told himself those vary words for his own comfort. He then started walking back down the path leading out of the forest.

Serena was left falling to her knees and then fell back onto her bum. Her heart was burning and the pain was agonizing. She stayed there for an hour sobbing at how ruthlessly Ash had said that. After that time, she decided to go home. She didn't know what else to do. She didn't understand how this could've happened. Everything seemed so perfect yesterday. As she staggered her way home, she could only ask herself " _How could this happen?_ "

Ash had been slowly walking back towards the town in Vaniville when Pikachu, who had been out to the side watching the whole thing unravel, started to run in front of Ash and stop. "Pika." Ash stopped so he wouldn't step on Pikachu. "What?" Pikachu gave him a concerned and frustrated look. "You know why I did that. It'd hurt ten times worse if I had to leave her forever after being with her for the rest of the week. And that goes for both of us, me **and** her." Ash walked around Pikachu who was annoyed that he did that. He kept moving forward and Pikachu followed. After a while, Ash walked all the way into town. He didn't know where to go, so he continued down the street. He thought for a second to ask Serena, but quickly remembered that he could never do that again. He sighed and a older man with a thin white scruffy beard sitting outside of a building had heard him.

The man said "Something got you down?"

Ash turned to his left to find the man sitting back on a bench, looking right at him. "I'm fine."

The man said "No one who is fine ever says they're fine."

Ash didn't really know what to say or care about what the man said to him. "So...?"

The man said " **So** , take a seat."

As Ash was doing so, an ambulance went zooming by with its lights flashing and siren wailing. The man said "It looks like some people have bigger problems. But I want you to tell me about yours."

As everything was happening with Ash, Serena had been making her way home. She had just gotten home and opened the door to her house as she felt the shattering pain in her chest again. Her mother was in their living room and saw her with her head down. Serena took a few steps inside and fell to her knees. Her mother ran to her.

Grace said "Serena, What's wrong?"

Serena cried as she said "It hurts so bad mom... He said he never wanted to see me again." Her words were croaking near the end. She felt broken.

Her mother knelt down by her. "It's going to be okay. I'm here for you." Serena's breathing started to slow. Grace thought she was calming down. Suddenly, Serena looked up at her mother with wide fearful eyes. Serena was holding both hands on her chest. She fell over onto her side and started closing her eyes. Grace shouted out "Serena? Serena!" Grace quickly got up and called the local hospital for an ambulance to come their way.

Back with Ash, the man seemed interested in why Ash was looking upset. The man said "So, what's got you down? Breakup?"

Ash looked up at the man quickly. " _How could he know something like that?_ " Ash said "How did you know?"

The man said "Magic."

Ash jumped back in his seat a little. "What?!"

The man laughed at him. "I'm just pulling your leg son. I saw you with the Yvonne girl yesterday. You two looked close."

Ash said "Oh... Well we were, but I don't want her to hurt, and I have to leave Kalos for good in a week. It was best to end it before we got closer."

The man took a moment to think. "I see, so it's all for the better in the end. Just one question. Wouldn't it hurt **you** more if she said she wanted to end it than it would for her to **have** to leave you?"

Ash tried taking the words into consideration. "I don't know... But it's too late now. Even if that's true, the damage had been done and I might as well not try to fix it just so we'll be pulled apart later."

The man said "Okay, well as long as you know what you're doing. If you really believe you made the right choice, then don't be sad about it. Be happy that you did the right thing."

Ash said "Alright, thank you. But... If I did...go back to her..., do you think she'd forgive me?"

The man spoke again. He gave the best answer he could. "I don't know. Only **you** could really know how close the two of you are. And you might be closer than you think."

The same ambulance that flew by earlier had come back and was going just as fast as before. Ash saw it go by and looked back to the man beside him. "I should be going now. Thank you again for talking with me, I mean it. Come on Pikachu." Ash stood up and got ready to move again.

The man said "Thank **you** , I don't always have someone to talk to. Well, Goodbye."

Ash started walking off, continuing in the direction he was headed before. " _That was a nice guy._ " "Bye!" Pikachu hopped up onto his shoulder. "Now, where to Pikachu?" He didn't know where to go still, so he thought back on the places he'd been to and that he may want to go to again. He mostly thought about the ones he and Serena liked most, like Coumarine City. But he didn't want to go somewhere that he'd be reminded of her. After thinking on it, he decided to head back to Lumiose City for now. "Alright Pikachu, we may go see Clemont and Bonnie again." Pikachu cried out in excitement. So he turned a corner and started to leave the town. It was still mid day as he left.

It's dark outside now. Serena's eyes eased open. She could see a door cracked open, and through it, two people. One of them was with their back to her wearing a white coat and the other that was in front of them was... " _Mom?!_ " She saw her mother with her head down and tears sliding down her cheeks. The woman looked up for a moment and saw Serena. Her eyes widened. She said something to the person in front of her and quickly walked past them, pushing open the door to the room. She made her way right beside Serena and started to lightly hug her. Serena started hugging her back.

Grace said "Oh sweetie, I love you." She didn't let go of Serena. Her eyes were still running like rivers.

Serena was curious as to why her mother is as upset as she is. "Mom... What happened?"

Her mom finally started pulling back, but had her hands on each side of her daughter's face. She said " is going to explain it. Remember, I'm here for you." Grace stood up right beside Serena's bedside and took her hand and held it in her own.

The person in the white coat sat near the back of the room. It was a tall and thin man with dark hair. He started walking in front of Serena's bed. "Hello, I'm . I'm going to explain your condition, about why you collapsed earlier today."

Serena is confused and afraid. " _Condition?_ " She found herself breathing in and out faster. "What condition?"

The man took a deep breath and released it. He held out a clipboard and started looking back and forth between it and her as he said "Yes. Serena, your mother has told me what happened to you. That you had chest pains, and started having a change of pace in your breathing before passing out completely. We've looked into it and those are signs of Arrhythmia. This is when someone's heart rate changes from its normal state. It seems it's happening because you have Cardiomyopathy. I know, it's another confusing word. Basically, your hearts muscle structure has been weakening. This is all important because it's causing threat of heart failure. Your heart almost stopped for good today. It will do this again soon. The problem is that one day, probably at the end of the week, it will stop for good and we can't revive it. The hearts muscle structure will collapse."

Serena had heard it all. She understood the underlined point. She had one week to live. " _I'm dying!_ " She couldn't help but to cry as she heard some of the worst news anyone could hear. She was in an agonizing pain and desperation. She wanted to know if there was a way that things could work out though. She remembered someone telling her to never give up. So in the midst of fighting off her own squeals, she managed to ask "I-Is there any w-way I can live? P-Please... Please!"

The doctor took a moment. He said "Yes and no. Technically, you could receive a heart transplant. That way you can live on, but with someone else's heart. However, the odds of getting one are slim to none. Someone would have to have died recently with an appropriate heart size and same blood type. And also would have to have died in or around the hospital in order for us to do the operation before that heart becomes useless."

That was enough for Serena to hear. It was over. She didn't give up until then, but after hearing those words she stopped believing there was a way out. Her tears started to stop as she felt a whole new way. At this point, she felt empty and emotionless. Her face became just a blank stare. After Ash had left her and hearing that she was pretty much garunteed to die, she actually wanted to die. And she wanted to right now. If she could kill herself in this moment, she would. She looked the doctor in his eyes and asked "Can you just kill me right now?"

Her mother immediately burst out "Serena! No! You're not allowed to do that!"

The doctor clearly didn't see that as an option and started to leave the room. He'd said all that he needed to say.

Serena started to feel the emotion kick right back in. She wanted to scream at the world. It wasn't being fair to her. Even when she wanted to just die off, it wouldn't let her. Her heart had taken its toll today. It had been shattered, and broken, and would literally collapse on her by the end of the week. This had been the worst day ever. She ripped her hand from her mother's and began to curl up. She felt the emotional pain shoving it's way though her entire body. It hurt worst of all...in the heart.

It's still very late and Ash was making his way towards Lumiose City. He'd been moving for hours. He felt that if he put more distance between him and Serena, he may not think so much of her. He just kept moving, even though it was late and he felt tired. Eventually, after being on the move for so long, he heard a voice ahead of him. The voice called out "Ash!" He looked up and was surprised to see who was calling his name.

To be continued...

—

Hey guys, I'm sorry it took so long to get this out. I'm also sorry if you hate me for what I just did. I did a little medical research for the story. I hope it was pretty emotional for you and I really hope you liked it. I like to try and word things in a way that might mislead you and I hope I did. Constructive criticism or not, I'd love feedback on how I'm doing. The word count may stay closer to 4,000 for now on in each chapter to keep it from being stressfully long. Thanks for reading. I love you guys.

Word count(including these): 4,432


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